Paul McGonagle Named Gridiron Club Of Greater Boston NCAA Division II/III Coach Of The Year

BEVERLY, Mass. — Endicott football head coach Paul McGonagle has been named the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston NCAA Division II/III Coach of the Year, as announced by the organization yesterday.

Since 1999, McGonagle is the third coach in Gridiron Club history to earn both Head Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year honors in his career. McGonagle, who claimed the latter award in 2016 as an assistant coach at Assumption College (NCAA Division II), joins Tom Godek and Dom Brown on the illustrious list. 

Godek earned both of his awards with Southern Connecticut (NCAA Division II), while Brown claimed head coach of the year honors at UMass (2006) and Northeastern (2002), and his assistant coach of the year award at Boston College in 2015.

Meanwhile, this past year, McGonagle led Endicott to its first winning season (7-4 overall/5-1 conference) and first playoff appearance (New England Bowl) in program history since 2013. The 7-4 overall record served as a four-win improvement in comparison to 2017, while the 5-1 conference mark highlighted a three-win improvement. McGonagle and his staff accomplished this despite facing the No. 18 ranked toughest schedule (tied) in all of NCAA Division III football this year, according to D3football.com.

Along with those merits, McGonagle earned Commonwealth Coast Football (CCC Football) Coach of the Year honors on November 13. 

McGonagle's individual honor was one of many the Gulls received from the conference that day as 14 student-athletes claimed CCC Football All-Conference accolades and Kha-lil Goodman (Bellmore, N.Y.) earned the CCC Football Offensive Lineman of the Year award.

In addition to those honors, Goodman also collected New England Football Writers College Division All-New England Team honors yesterday along with his teammates Nick DiCairano (Trumbull, Conn.) and William Rivera (Orangeburg, N.Y.). 

That gives Endicott 21 postseason awards this year (2 Coach of the Years, 1 Offensive Lineman of the Year, 1 Special Teams Player of the Year, 3 All-Region, 14 All-Conference) under McGonagle with D3football.com's All-Region Team yet to be announced at this time.

As a team, Endicott currently ranks No. 8 in all of NCAA Division III in sacks allowed, No. 15 in first downs offense, and No. 19 in red zone offense.

The Gulls also finished 2018 with league-best marks in passing yards (2,642), passing yards per game (240.2), and passing touchdowns (29). Additionally, the Gulls finished second in the conference in points (391), points per game (35.5), total offense (4,771), yards per game (433.7), rushing yards (2,129), rushing yards per game (193.5), and rushing touchdowns (19). 

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(Photo Credit - Nick Grace)